Very excited about the content per vehicle opportunity for that.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Okay, so looks like the webcast has begun. So we're gonna get going now with our next presentation. Very happy to have with us Adient, including their President and Chief Executive Officer on the end here, Jerome Dorlack, and next to me, their Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Mark Oswald. Jerome and Mark, thanks so much for coming to the conference. We have some slides, and we'll engage in some discussion. Thank you.
Yeah. Thanks, Ryan, and I'll kick it off, and I'll start, and then I'll turn it over to Jerome. You know, obviously, we just presented our fiscal Q3 earnings this past week, so we won't delve too much into the financials. I just got a quick slide here to kinda go through, just in terms of current state of the business. So, you know, obviously, Adient, you know, committed to ongoing strong operational performance. I think you saw that come out within our Q3 results, right? So if you peel it back and you looked at, you know, the performance that we did over in the Americas, as well as Asia-Pacific, China, business performance really improved significantly. It was enough to offset the volume challenges that we faced.
When you looked at the results, then you sort of isolated Europe as really the part, the region of the company that needs additional attention. Obviously, they were impacted by, you know, a few things in the current quarter. One, last year's results on a year-over-year basis included some one-time insurance recoveries, also included some, what I'd say, recoveries from the commercial team last year that didn't repeat this year. They were probably outsized last year. And then the other piece of it is, you know, we were going through three launches at the time over in Europe. The customers weren't running at rate. As you know, we have, you know, trapped labor.
When that happens to the tune of, you know, call it $10-$12 million, you know, for the quarter there, that added up and really impacted the Q3 results. We do see as we go in from Q3 into Q4, that that business performance continues to improve in Europe. We'd expect to see similar improvement, continued improvement in the Americas as well as Asia and China. So net-net, that's what gives us confidence as you look at that bridge from Q3 into Q4. I'd also say that the company is laser-focused on cash generation, right? You saw that come out within the third quarter results there, generating $80+ million of free cash flow. We are able then to use that to return to the shareholders, so for the quarter, returning $75 million in share repurchases.
Year to date, that figure was $225 million. Again, if you think about that in relation to the guide for free cash flow this year, you know, $250 million, safe bet that we're gonna continue to be in the market in the fourth quarter. So, you know, with any type of, you know, what I'd say, significant, you know, share repurchases there in the fourth quarter, really outpacing our free cash flow with what we're gonna be returning to our shareholders in terms of share repurchases. And really, the last thing I'll leave you with is we are focused on the long term. As I mentioned, you know, businesses are running extremely well in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, China. We have Europe ring-fenced.
There's, you know, more heavy lifting that needs to be done there, just in terms of from a portfolio standpoint, from restructuring standpoint, Jerome, myself, focused on that. We'll be giving a little bit more color on that in November as we give our fourth quarter full year 2024 results, as well as our expectations heading into 2025. With that, I'll turn it over to Jerome.
So thank you very much, Mark. I wanna talk to you a little bit today about, you know, both automation and then really how automation works into Adient's, what I'd call, value creation flywheel, and how we see ourselves really differentiating Adient in terms of how we create value for our shareholders. So moving into how do we do that? How do we create sustainable value for our shareholders? And there's really four aspects of this. The first is operational excellence. You know, with that, what we mean is our ability to improve business performance, and really looking at doing this not only through automation, but also modularity, using automation modularity as a continuous lever to drive overall improvement in margins, even in a down revenue environment.
You know, if you look at this year, if you take the Americas, you know, looking at that business, S&P up 3%. Our our programs, our top programs there are down 8% and still able to expand margins, really through business performance, through operational excellence in that region. The next leg of the stool is looking at leveraging innovation in our global footprint to to solidify Adient as a supplier of choice status. You saw some of that with our announcement, with Jinbei, you know, really bringing to market a first application of a mechanical massage system, where it's not just another me-too application of a conventional, you know, what I would call pneumatic massage, or a conventional four-way, six-way, or eight-way, traditional, you know, just move it in and out type of massage system.
A truly differentiated type of mechanical massage overlaid on a pneumatic massage system where we've already won our first two contracts in the region. We own the IP, we'll have the manufacturing on our shop floor, and we can actually spread that IP out globally from that standpoint. Third leg is really around portfolio, and when we talk about portfolio, when we really talk about three things there. We talk about the product portfolio, which I talked about earlier. We talk about our portfolio in terms of the three regions, and so as we grow our business in China and APAC, that will have outsized growth, not only in terms of outgrowing the market in China, but also outsized growth versus our other two regions, and so that represents a natural tailwind in terms of regional mix for Adient.
But we also mean portfolio in terms of actively managing our customers and pruning customers that are non-core to us, where we're non-core to them or they're non-core to us, and pruning off assets that either have a finite lifespan or we see an end of life coming, whether that be in the 2029 or 2030 timeframe, and harvesting those now for cash in order to fund future restructuring needs in our region like EMEA, so that it's net dilutive from a cash standpoint to our shareholders. And then that really then turns to the last leg, which is disciplined capital allocation. You know, Mark already talked about the fact that when you look at this year, $250 million of free cash flow, we've already returned $225 million to our shareholders.
We'll go to work on our debt. We've got the euro note that's due, EUR 130 million. We'll pay that down. And so it is this disciplined capital allocation model that we have in place. And then all of that really contributes to driving sustainable long-term growth and margin expansion across the company. Moving forward to examples of innovation, but also automation partnerships. So I talked a little bit about the Jinbei partnership that we have out there, really focused on mechanical massage systems, where we've overlaid, you know, what is a three-dimensional massage system, essentially. So this is a very high-end system aimed at high-end customers, where you have a kneading type of massage system that can come in either a, what's shown here is a four-puck.
We also have a 6-puck system that sits on top of a traditional pneumatic system that goes across the vehicle. This gives us a more vertically integrated supply chain. We'll have the manufacturing, we'll have the IP access, where we'll be able to do that in China, but we can also sell it outside of the region. Again, 2 contracts have already been won there from that standpoint. And then also working with a company called Mindtrace, where we are already piloting on 2 of our lines in our Lakewood facility in Michigan, automated weld inspection. If you go into a traditional seat back manufacturing plant, the most non-value-added labor in that facility is going to be weld inspection at the end of the line, where you'll have anywhere from 2-4 individuals who are just doing weld inspection.
This process actually gets rid of those individuals. It allows you to repurpose them across the plant, and it replaces it with a much more repeatable process, a much more Gauge R&R standard process, a much more quality-driven process. And we're, as I said, already piloting that and working to deploy it across the facility. So this is something we're also very excited about as we move forward. What's important about that, and you'll see it on the next slide, where we're piloting this activity, is on an already fully automated weld cell. And so with this process that's in place, the only human intervention on this welding application for a second-row seat is really the loading of components in there. And you'll see this then when we get to the actual video. So just in closing, you know, why Adient?
So first of all, I mean, committed to increasing earnings, but more importantly, I mean, increasing free cash flow and then being good stewards of that free cash flow. You know, key enablers to that, first of all, the natural mix and tailwind that I talked about from our China and our Asia region as we expand growth there, improve business performance in the Americas and the EMEA region. As we exit our low-margin metals business, that'll be positive balance and balance out for us. And then proactive restructuring, especially and primarily in the EMEA region, really enables that 200 basis points margin expansion. I mean, we proactively identify opportunities to really accelerate margin enhancement, and really looking for other levers within our EMEA region and really being good stewards of capital there.
As we look at ways to exit non-core business, using that to drive funding, to drive the restructuring there, and then earnings and cash flow, returning that, back to our shareholders as part of a balanced capital allocation plan. All underpinned really by driving shareholder value and, looking out, are there other ways to accelerate that shareholder value creation?
Right. Thank you. You know, my first question here relates to the changing expectations around battery electric vehicles. Maybe a little bit more relevant for Adient than one might think, given the relatively you know, agnostic nature, powertrain agnostic nature of seats, because you have specifically targeted these vehicles for growth, and they are growing, just not as quickly as was forecast. I think at the start of the year, S&P Global Mobility thought that global BEV production would rise 32% in 2024, but their latest forecast out on August first calls for just 10% growth.
You know, what, in your view, accounts for this significant reset of expectations, and has the slower near-term growth of BEV production caused you to think any differently about the ultimate, you know, the medium or long-term potential? And, what are the implications, do you think, for Adient?
Yeah. So I think, you know, taking the question in two parts. So on the first part, what drives kind of the consumer acceptance, and then the second part being, how does that really play into how we view the market? You know, from a consumer acceptance standpoint, I, I think if you go region- by- region, you know, first of all, in EMEA, it, it really comes down to customers looking at the cycle and the pace and the change there. And the feedback that we get from our team on the ground is it, it's always they're waiting for the next best thing. So, you know, why buy an EV today that has, call it, 400 or 450 kilometers of range when the next cycle vehicle may have 500 kilometers of range?
And it's always this question of value for money and what's the value prop, and if I wait another year, do I get a vehicle that has a better value proposition to it? And why should I then buy an EV today if I can get one tomorrow that has a better value proposition around it? And, and that's just causing a lot of delay in terms of EV acceptance, along with all the other value drivers of EV, and do they-- are they really playing out the way they should? And then in the U.S., I think we all... I mean, a lot of us here live in the U.S., and you have a lot of the other, I think, challenging factors depending on where you live. If you're in an urban center, there's charging infrastructure.
Certainly in New York City, you can see that here, where you have shared, shared housing and things. If you live in an apartment, you even have access to charging infrastructure. Those challenges exist. You have range anxiety in the U.S., which is much more prevalent in Europe, you have cost challenges that go with it, and so I think that all leads to significant challenges with EV adoption. And then if you look at some of the latest studies that have come out from S&P, from Boston Consulting, you now have first EV adopters now going to as low as 60% when it comes to second EV adoption, when they go to repurchase their next, their next vehicle. So all of these things, I think, play into that. What that then means for Adient and how we think about...
I just come back to capital allocation, how we think about capital allocation decisions. If you go back 2018, 2019, you know, we, I think, would have been much more open to dedicated capital assets, in terms of, you know, putting in JIT facilities that were more dedicated for our customers for EVs. You know, fast-forward to where we are today, and those decisions are much more heavily scrutinized, and I think our willingness to put in a, a dedicated JIT facility for an EV powertrain is very limited. And so we think about now long-distance JIT as an enabler, where we share facilities across customers, we share facilities across powertrains, so that our capital investments now are powertrain-agnostic and really customer-agnostic.
You know, an example of that, without getting into customer specifics, are, you know, we run a facility in Mexico that is engaged in long-distance JIT for a mid-size EV with a customer, and right alongside it, in that same facility, we're building heavy-duty pickup seats for an, obviously, an ICE vehicle. And so when that EV was very slow to ramp, our exposure that we had from a trapped capital standpoint was very minimal. And the workforce, we were able to flex it because we could just, you know, basically transpose it between the ICE pickup and redeploy it from that standpoint. And then in Europe, I mean, we have a, a facility that's a dedicated EV facility that causes us issues, that's really caused us a great lesson learned. So now...
When we've had to put assets in for a customer's next generation EVs, we've engaged in long-distance JIT out of the Czech Republic, shipping those EV seats into Germany, and sharing that plant across multiple customers, across multiple platforms, across multiple powertrain families, so that we don't have this trapped capital asset type of phenomenon.
Interesting. Thank you. And my second question relates to another big theme in the industry, which is the strong growth of the domestic Chinese automakers. You know, they were quick to embrace electrification. Their quality and design have improved so considerably. They're introducing new models, sometimes twice the rate of global peers. BYD, five years ago, was thirteenth largest in China, and now they're first. I think collectively, they've gone from, like, 35% to, yeah, 55%, since the start of the pandemic. Still small outside of China, but with a lot of ambition. So how do you see this trend continuing to evolve inside and outside of China?
And, you know, many of the suppliers we cover are still less levered to the domestics. What is your exposure to the domestics within China? And then, can you talk about maybe any actions that you're taking to try to reposition the portfolio to better benefit from the growth of these quickly, you know, rising OEMs?
Yeah, maybe I'll start with that, Ryan. You know, so right now, our exposure is about 40% what I'd say local versus 60%, foreign. And so what we've indicated, and I think you were out in China not too long ago, you met with the team out there. You know, obviously some good success at really breaking into the local manufacturers, right? So we expect that that shift will go from, let's just say, 40/60 today to 60/40, right? So we expect to continue to grow with the Chinese locals. We're still gonna be, you know, very involved with what I'd say our world or our global manufacturers are that we do business across the globe with. So we'll continue to have strength in there.
So it's really being flexible and really having that balance between the locals, the foreign, where we think that we can grow, and the team's been very successful in doing that.
Maybe a question on the 8% margin target by 2027. Really, the emphasis is on, you know, by 2027. And like you, I see no reason why the business can't generate an 8% margin. But thinking about some of the headwinds that are impacting you now, just kinda like to test the degree to which they will have surely subsided by that point in time, including the customer mix issues. I mean, look, if Stellantis cut some inventory in June, okay, but what about, you know, Volkswagen in China? Is that still gonna be, you know, an issue for us, you know, going forward?
You know, what about some of this program stuff, some of the EV, you know, if it really does track, you know, materially softer, et cetera. You know, what penetration rate of EVs is maybe assumed in that 8% margin target? I don't know if that's even the most important planning assumption. Maybe just talk about what other factors, both inside and outside Adient's control, you know, are necessary to get to that 8% target?
Yeah, I'll start, and Jerome, feel free to weigh in, but I look at it by region, Ryan. So if I look at the Americas, for example, I think, again, I go back to the customer diversification. We've benefited this year, right, in a, what I'd say, a very challenged volume environment. We've been able to expand margins, right? So if you look at the Americas region, you know, just based on our guidance, it's probably gonna increase margins, call it some 80 basis points, right, year-over-year from 2023 to 2024. You know, in a low to, you know, falling volume environment, if I go into 2025, you'll probably see something very similar because of the customer makeup, because of our platform mix, because of, you know, certain of that, what I'd say, underperforming metals business rolling off, right?
So take this year, for example, outsized positions with the Japanese manufacturers. If I look at my Korean manufacturers, right, they've been able to, you know, perform. The sustainability of those customers have far outweighed, you know, what I'd say the, the shortfall is with customers from the D3, right? Some of the big... You mentioned it's Stellantis taking down some of their volumes, right, for inventory management. You know, if I look at some of my other, you know, D3 full-size SUVs that basically are still going through a launch curve that will get to full, you know, rate next year, obviously, that's gonna help. So it's more of, you know, where am I concentrated with my customers? How profitable is that, you know, vehicle mix there? And I think that plays out very well in the Americas.
When I look at Asia, China, for example, right, that's a growth engine for the company. If you look at history, we've been able to sustain margins over there. It's a very good mix of customers over there. We have a good line of sight in terms of the balance in, balance out of the new platforms coming in. So again, that's another region that I'd say is performing extremely well. The ring-fenced or the part that we have to continue to focus on, that we're doing a lot of heavy lifting on right now is EMEA, right? So if you think about, you know, the impacts on that region, it's structural, you know, low volumes, it's the fact that, you know, certain of the customers are starting to in-source seating, right?
And so now Jerome and I have taken a step back, and we said, "Hey, listen, the way that we think about that market today is totally different than we were thinking about it a year ago," right? A year ago, we would have said, "Hey, if we just concentrate on the balance and balance out of some of that metals portfolio, rolling out some of the new customers rolling in," you know, that would have been a good, what I would say, line of sight to improved margins. It's gonna take more than that now. It's gonna be that plus more restructuring to rightsize that business, whether it's SG&A, whether it's capacity. So I really, really think the right production environment is over in the EMEA region, which is significantly less than what we would have thought 12 months ago.
... And you got a question on Europe on the call. You know, is this just gonna be more restructuring? Because, you know, you said that you were evaluating all the levers. You said that that could include paring of operations, sharing of operations, combining of operations, you know, anything that can eliminate that overcapacity in the region. Maybe just talk about what opportunities are available. Are other people struggling as much as you? Would they have the same motivating factor? And could anything be done that wouldn't entail, you know, levering and, you know, cash out the door, or?
Well, I mean, I think, I can't say if other people are suffering or have the same challenges. What I can say is, you know, if you go back to Europe, even three years ago, four years ago, I mean, it was a 21, 20, 21 million vehicle build. There was about that much in terms of seating take rate. If you sit there today and you look at it, and you correct for the seating insourcing that's taken place and, the customers that do seats in-house now, it's closer to probably about a 16 million, somewhere in there. And so there's, you know, around about 5-6 million of overcapacity in the region, and that impacts any seating player that's there. So we all have those challenges in the region from that standpoint.
So that means, you know, within the region, you're, you're either a consolidator or a consolidatee, or you're taking capacity out. And if you're taking capacity out, that means a level of cash out the door from restructuring. Adient isn't passive. I mean, we're going to do what it takes in order to get our margins correct and get our cash flow sustainable in the region. You saw the first announcement in our... what would've been our Q2 call, the $140 million of restructuring that we announced, in order to start right-sizing our operations there. I think as you move forward in the region, you can anticipate additional restructuring needs in order to additionally pare back operations there and pare back our SG&A.
But as we also said on the call, you know, we're going through evaluating what options we have there to look at non-core operations, to look at, you know, customers where we're either non-critical to them or they're non-critical to us. What can we do to harvest dollars from that in order to fund some of that restructuring, in order to be, you know, good stewards of capital within the region? And that's the process we're evaluating now.
What about the, as an avenue for margin, expansion, the, this more modular approach, right? I first learned about that, in December of 2023, in Plymouth. You'd been talking about the 8% target for quite a while before that, and, it was, later, after you introduced the 8%, you started putting that, that year on it. But, what... Was the modular approach, contemplated when you, first rolled out the 8% target? Or, you know, maybe it's not incremental, but it's needed to offset some of the, the softer volumes or, or, mix, that we've seen. And how big of a-- I mean, you seemed to imply it was kind of game changing.
Remind us, 30% out labor or something like that? How much of an opportunity is that to get to your targets?
Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, in a standard JIT, you know, JIT facility, it's roughly, call it 30% of the direct labor on a front seat line, give or take a bit. You know, in terms of how much of that is part of our target, you know, in the Americas, it's part of, you know, what Mark went through in terms of the 100 basis points there. What I would say is we've launched our first application now. We launched it about a month ago or so. The next two are already kind of in place and on the calendar, ready to go. We have already now two other customers who are kind of slated and working with us to move forward.
I'm encouraged to say, not only when you met with us in December, what we showed you was a cushion or kind of the lower part of the seat, and we now have slated back frames as well, so the upper part of the seat that's now already moving forward in that modular assembly process. We've taken what was a concept for just the cushion, and we've been able to migrate that now to the back frame. This really is, you know, changing not only the way we view the cushion assembly, but also the back frame assembly and total seat assembly. What that really means is, as we look at, you know, future labor footprint, especially in the U.S. and especially in our high-cost European plants, it's changing the dynamic of how we lay out those facilities.
It's changing the dynamic of how we think about ongoing CI, and it's changing how we set up those plants in the future. You know, to say it's this percentage of the 8% margin target, you know, I can't sit here and give you it's exactly this amount, because we always drive for a sustainability equation that's positive. And so, as we expand margins, you know, this year in the Americas, 80 basis points, it's part of that. As we think we can do something similar moving forward, you know, as we go from 2024 to 2025, it's going to be part of that, because we're always having to offset the challenges that came our, you know, our way. Would we anticipate as we went from, you know, 2021 to 2022, a labor environment that was hyper and 10% labor inflation?
No, but we needed to find a way to offset that. This is one of the ways to offset that, and we're always driving innovative ways to do so.
You know, another avenue for, you know, margin enhancement, is vertical integration. And so certainly, you know, Lear's lean. You guys are vertically integrated, too. I mean, you do the foam, the trim,
Yeah
... the metal components. In fact, I think when it comes to the structures, you might be more vertically integrated than some others. But, you know, obviously, they've made that a big part of their margin strategy. And, you know, I've been asking you in meetings for, you know, 5+ years, you know, what you think about, you know, seat heating and ventilation and lumbar and massage, including because I cover Gentherm, so I'm always kinda looking at it-
Yeah
... from that perspective, too. And, and, I just asked them in the other room. I feel like I, I said, "You know, I feel like, you know, Adient over the years has really backed up a lot of the things that, that Gentherm has said," because when I ask Adient about it, "We can compete just as effectively. We, we don't need to. We, we can partner with, with Gentherm. They have excellent products, and, and we can go to market against Lear." And, so I was pushing them on that because when I went to... And, and you mentioned it, too, when I met with James in China, they talked about the Jinbei-
Mm-hmm
... joint venture. So now you actually are doing vertical integration. And they say they talked about it that it was to meet China market-specific needs or something.
Yeah.
But, is there any reason why that couldn't be, you know, applied outside of China, that you couldn't pick up some margin by vertically integrating that technology, mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, or something like that? And I wonder when you were saying that you didn't need to do that over the years, well, maybe that was because earlier, when you were overleveraged, you'd rather pay down debt. And now when your stock is so cheap, you'd rather buy back stock. So you have to compare it against, you know, that opportunity, too. But what's the latest on vertical integration, and if that could be an avenue for getting you there, too, to the 8%?
No, I mean, I think... I mean, we still feel Gentherm is a, I mean, really a very reliable partner for us and, and a top-tier partner for us. I mean, still feel that way today, and, you know, we obviously talk to them quite a bit, and we have a very good relationship with them. And for the core comfort system products, we still feel that way, as if vertical integration is not a path that we see adding incremental value to the company, from a comfort system standpoint, and we'd still prefer to partner with people like Gentherm, and Gentherm is one of those core partners to us.
You know, the reason why Jinbei made a lot of sense is because it's a very specific product at the very high end of the segment on that mechanical massage that didn't exist in the market today. You know, there is not a product in the market today that fits that need, and certainly, we invite anyone out to our showrooms anywhere in the world to really experience that product. Because there isn't anything like it in the market today, where you have both a kneading and a pneumatic factor to it at the very high end, and nobody had that.
So it represented really an opportunity for us to create a market, and own the IP and own the manufacturing of it, and that's why we went down that path, with a very limited investment, to satisfy that market. So there's no plans from that standpoint to go down and, you know, vertically integrate and wholly acquire any type of a, of a comfort system supplier, especially in a market that has, you know, so many commodity players in it today from that standpoint. We're much better off partnering with someone like a Gentherm, with Phil and his team, where we have a very good relationship today.
May I ask on capital allocation, you're targeting the $250 million of free cash flow this year?
Mm-hmm.
You've already bought back $225 million. So you're really returning all of it now. And I'm just curious if we should think about that as continuing as the priority. I mean, the question earlier about doing something strategic in Europe, you know, to address that, would that require cash, or would it not require cash, or would it require cash that's included in just the restructuring, and so you know, the free cash flow is after that? Or curious, too, if you would ever... It seems almost silly to talk about this after you used to be so levered, but now you're not. And would you ever, you know, lever to buy back stock? You know, and Aptiv just did that.
You kinda almost did that, if you think about it, when you did the Yanfeng transaction, I mean, obviously, you delevered and bought back stock. But if you think about it, you know, you brought the cash on the balance sheet, and then you bought back stock in excess of the free cash flow you were generating. So you kind of levered to buy back stock. So what would the appetite for that be? I wouldn't have asked that question, you know, at $30, but-
Yeah
... you know, maybe it's relevant now.
Yeah, maybe, maybe I'll start on that. So I'd, I'd say that we still have what I'd view as the balanced capital allocation, you know, mindset, right? So you're, you're absolutely right. We've done a very good job this year of returning the $225. It's gonna be more than that when we finish the year, so call it, you know, something in excess of the $250 million that we generate. I'd say that we started the year with, you know, probably excess cash on the balance sheet than we needed, right? So we, we said all along that we're gonna, you know, use some of that excess cash on the balance sheet to buy back the shares. We've also got those 3.5% notes that are due here in August.
That's $130 million, so it's gonna be balanced between, you know, the mandatory paydown on those. We think the leverage is in great shape right now. It's in our target range of 1.5-2 times, so I don't look at any more, what I'd say, need to do any voluntary debt paydown. So yeah, at this point, you know, definitely keeping a focus on the, the share buybacks. And I also want to make sure that we're flexible enough, and I think the balance sheet is in a strong and a flexible situation now, where if something does come available and it's inorganic, right, we can at least take the phone call. We can consider it, right?
So it's making sure that, you know, we invest in the right businesses internal, we reward the shareholders by buying back share, we keep enough dry powder on the sidelines so that if there is something in terms of an M&A action that might be interesting, we could take a look at that. And really, I think that's played out. So, you know, for the first, you know, nine months this year, you know, returning and buying back a little over, a little under 8% of my shares outstanding from the start of the year, right? I don't think there's really a big appetite for us to go out and do a big ASR because, in fact, we're really doing that in a very measured approach now, which is working out really well for the shareholders.
Let's check to see if there might be any questions in the audience. We are over time, so I think we'll let these guys go and join us back here for General Motors in seven minutes. So please join me in thanking Jerome and Mark for all their-